Shirtless is the little black dress of NASCAR. Photographer Lauren Winchester headed to Gateway International Raceway, just outside St. Louis in Madison, Illinois, on Saturday, July 19, 2008. She came to take pictures of the fashion but no one was wearing any clothes, which in turn became fashionable. She was offered food a record number of times by friendly people who also wanted to know if she was down for a competitive game of washers.
By Lauren Winchester
So I came to the Gateway International Raceway in search of NASCAR-inspired fashion and an experience I would not soon forget. The best way I could describe it is hot and wet.
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By Lauren Winchester
Allow me to backtrack for just a moment, this was the car in front of me when I was pulling in, reassuring me that today would be awesome.
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By Lauren Winchester
Tailgating is a big part of the event and the high of 97 degrees didn’t stop any of these dedicated fans. They drink, they play, they sweat, but they love it.
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By Lauren Winchester
These are the first gentlemen I met along the way. They beckoned to me across the gravel road and complimented me on my fancy camera. I told them I now understand why being shirtless and loving the races are synonymous, and that’s because it’s just so darn hot on these tracks, well at least that’s the excuse today…
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By Lauren Winchester
A group of girls brought this mini-pool for their feet, which I thought was a really innovative move, they even offered me a dip, which I took them up on and documented.
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By Lauren Winchester
So if I thought those ladies were smart, check out this group. I felt like I was in a music video of a rap song covered by Weird Al Yankovich.
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By Lauren Winchester
One of the most impressive setups I saw was from this group out of Granite City, Illinois.
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By Lauren Winchester
This is a real barbecue pit, notice the smoking engine. The owner wanted to make sure that I noticed her matching flag, which I did.
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By Lauren Winchester
Being Columbia, Missouri natives, I asked if they were big Carl Edwards’ fans, they laughed and said "Hell no, we like Kyle Busch.: P.S. his shirt says, "No Jap Crap" in case you were wondering.
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By Lauren Winchester
So I finally walk through the gates and I hear a beer can get tossed into the metal trashcan, the woman taking the tickets says, “honey, you coulda brought that beer in with you.” The Raceway is A.O.K with B.Y.O.B., which brings me to the most prominent fashion accessory of the day, the mini cooler man purse.
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By Lauren Winchester
They were everywhere.
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By Lauren Winchester
Everybody's doing it.
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By Lauren Winchester
I saw a lot of these NOS capes too, which seemed impractical given the pass-out worthy temperatures, but beauty is pain. Gosh they were beautiful. The NOS promotional tent was throwing them into the crowd and I guess they looked best around the neck.
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By Lauren Winchester
The crowd in front of the NOS tent just waiting for some free swag. I got my very own NOS koozie cup holder!
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By Lauren Winchester
Black and Mild had a smoking lounge promotional booth that slightly resembled a closet used to play “Seven Minutes in Heaven,” She kept time.
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By Lauren Winchester
Drivers even match their outfits to their cars, which I’d say is a fashion do. Too bad my car isn’t sponsored by Hefty.
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By Lauren Winchester
Now we will get to the retail portion of our NASCAR slide show. I saw these tires from a distance and thought there was an interactive game going on, but really, there were just old NASCAR tires for sale. I voiced, “What would anybody do with these?” and this man said, “You could definitely make a coffee table with these things!” Then I said, “Well I guess I’ll take four, thank you.” Crate and Barrel better watch its back.
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